liuzhou

Rabbit ravioli in spicy garlicky tomato sauce.

Here is Qing Yun market in more normal times.

This past week has been a holiday for most people in China and it seems that 90% of the 1.4 billion population has crowded into Liuzhou! With crowds drawn by Luosifen initially, the city has become a wider gastronomic destination. People are piling in everywhere with long lines and waits of up to two hours outside most of the hundreds of luosifen shops. All over Chinese social media are videos of people lining up to sample the delights of rice noodles in snail broth. The snails are moving faster than the lines. The line outside my favourite, near my home, is now one of the longest and the locals' gruntle is decidedly dissed. We can't get our own food anymore! Above is about 1/16th of the line. The shop has seating for 8 people. But it's worse than that. 青云 (qīng yún) means 'clear sky' but is also the name of the city's oldest and largest street market and one of my favourite haunts. Over the last week it has turned into purgatory. Thousands of tourist sheep are cramming themselves into the narrow streets in search of 'authentic' Guangxi street food. No one can do their regular shopping there anymore. Hopefully, they'll all go home this weekend, but perhaps not. 🔥🔥🔥

I don't know. They aren't waxed though. Maybe just super fresh? People here wouldn't accept waxed citrus. Everyone (including me) dries the peel for cooking with. It's an essential ingredient in many dishes.

Of course, we also get regular oranges. When I lived in Hunan, oranges were almost free. 7 cents (USD) a kilo. It was said to be the world's largest orange producing area. These are a bit more expensive and grown locally.

Absolutely. All my local supermarkets and wet markets sell them pre-peeled. They are held in lightly acidulated water (using diluted rice vinegar) and are unrefrigerated even here in the tropics.

Douban chicken and mushrooms. Chicken, garlic, chilli, ginger, 豆瓣酱 (dòu bàn jiàng - Sichuan broad bean and chilli paste), button mushrooms, Shaoxing wine, scallions. Rice and stir-fried spinach (unphotographed).

...and some grapes from Hainan Island

A couple of friends paid a Chinese New Year visit yesterday, bearing fruity gifts as is traditional. Among their gifts was an introduction to a new addiction. These are 耙耙柑 (pá pá gān), a type of giant tangerine / orange hybrid from Sichuan. They are the size of a regular large orange but have that easily removed loose skin that tangerines have. They taste sweet but balanced with a citric edge. There were eight, China's lucky number, but I quickly reduced that to these four before remembering to take a picture. They too are critically endangered. I'll buy more tomorrow.

To sell more. I have seen, but not bought, Seabrook's here in China! Although Burt's are more available. For the export market, they use the silly American term. Shame on them.

Yes, the same is true in many languages around the world. As well as European languages, Arabic, Chinese and Russian. Not surprising really.

This has already been discussed at length (10 pages) here.

Mention has been made of cloves, the spice and the etymological connection to nails, the things you hit with hammers. That is an interesting topic but not as interesting as the history of the cloves themselves. Syzygium aromaticum, formerly known as Eugenia caryophyllata is native to the Maluccas, a group of islands in Eastern Indonesia. It's a long story worth investigating but at one time the islands were controlled by the Dutch who imposed the death penalty for unauthorised possession of even one clove. Later the French prevailed and named the tree and its spice gilofre. Later, the spice changed to clou or clou de gilofre meaning 'nail of gilofre' due to the appearance of the dried flowers buds used as the spice. From here it passed into English as 'clou gilofre' following the Norman Conquest. In 1386, Chaucer, a master of the colloquial, could write "And many a clow gilofre and notemuge (nutmeg) to put in ale" with no fear of it not being understood. At some point, the pronunciation changed from 'clue' to the current 'clove' for reasons unknown. Gradually, the gilofre was dropped from the spice, although the flower name remains as gillyflower. In modern French, it is girofle. Several languages, mostly European but also Arabic, took a similar path, naming the spice after nails. Many more didn't. In Chinese, the spice is 丁香 (dīng xiāng) (literally T-shaped aromatic) whereas the fastener is 钉子 (dīng zi). The first character of the former appears again in the first character of the latter, again referring to the shape. The two characters are homophones. Incidentally, 'clove' as in garlic is unrelated. It is from the verb 'to cleave' as in 'separate'.

I've been freezing roasted beans for about 30 years. Supplies are not easy for me to source. Any degradation is minimal.

Prawn fried rice with the last of my matsutake.

I just saw a recipe which started 'rub your thighs with the spice mixture'. Now I have to wash my pants!

I want the head! Best part!

Is it normal for Farmers Market produce to be barcoded where you are? It certainly isn't here.

Spicy chicken hearts with matsutake, garlic, chilli, Shaoxing wine, scallions. Rice.

Finally, the end. Full of additives and self loathing, I need to wash out my mouth. They 'kindly' supply a small (245ml) bottle of milk. UHT, of course. I ignore that and pour a nice inch or three of Laphroaig instead. The shock of the previous item will not be assuaged by cow juice. So that was my CNY journey through Chinese snacks. It won't be repeated. Happy Dragons.

Penultimately, we reach the abysmal depths, snack depravity. These are known as 米果卷, 'rice fruit rolls'. Sounds innocent enough but beware! Demons lurk within. Buried in the small print is the appalling truth - 甜玉米味! Sweet c@rn flavour!! Pausing only to photograph the evidence for the prosecution, these go straight in the trash, back to where they crawled from the slime.

Then there are these Milk Cakes. In fact, they are labeled as 'Milk Flavour Milk Cakes'. Clearly aimed at children, these features the easiest 'join the dots puzzle' ever devised and a milk and cow sticker for wherever you stick stickers. The actual edibles are just churn shaped biscuits/cookies. Not particularly milky, but edible. 'Inoffensive' is as effusive I can get.

There is light at the end of the box! I knew these would be in there somewhere. Seaweed rice cakes. I've never understood the appeal. Dry, hard and flavourless, they turn up everywhere from CNY to weddings to funerals. Still, I do admire the skill at making seaweed tasteless. Also, according to the ingredients, they contain bonito. I think they mean a bonito once swam past the factory in 1962. The bag contains four smaller bags, each of which contains two 8cm / 2.5 inch diameter cakes. Cardboard.

Yes. Sounds like my local supermarkets. Chaos! Hotpots are a favourite at CNY. I'm a snake too, but I like them. For dinner!

I posted something similar a few posts back but if it wasn't for my teeth, I'd be all over these. Last time it was beef flavoured broad beans / fava beans. Now it's the real deal. Chilli roasted broad beans. What more is there to say other than to curse old teeth. Well one thing. The portion is a bit miserable (smaller bag than the beef ones). Probably bigger bags are available.